Recording options? What device should i buy?

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n.minas

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Currently Northants / Home is Hackney
Hi guys i have looking into ways to take samples from various places and the methods involved. Currently most of the sources i want to sample from are VIA RCA outputs. Things like my sky+ box and my consoles. But these thing are not in or arround my bedroom studio so i want to be able to easily sample from these sources and for the samples to be of good quality.

I dont have much experience in this subject so i though i would ask you guys for some pointers.

I think maybe a mini disk recorder? But my knowledge is probably outdated and there maybe better stuff out there now days. Hopefully you lovely bunch can help!

Thanks
 
minidisk would work, although probly cheaper to use a Flash MP3 recorder of some kind.

the black and red RCA's in scart are just standard line in/out, so the options are endless really

longer routes...I've never used a SkyHD box, but dont they have an Ethernet socket? perhaps theres sumway you can hack into it and extract the recordings off its HD drive? or you can get transmitter/reciever combos that plug into scart, to send the signal upto your studio for recording.
 
miszt said:
minidisk would work, although probly cheaper to use a Flash MP3 recorder of some kind.

the black and red RCA's in scart are just standard line in/out, so the options are endless really

longer routes...I've never used a SkyHD box, but dont they have an Ethernet socket? perhaps theres sumway you can hack into it and extract the recordings off its HD drive? or you can get transmitter/reciever combos that plug into scart, to send the signal upto your studio for recording.
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Im assuming the Mini Disk would record in WAV instead of MP3, Correct me if im wrong though as i honestly dont know!

Interesting point about hacking the HD but i was thinking that as the sky box has the record, rewind, fast forward functions i could basically use it like a sampler to select the parts i want and then just record it in real-time with a device capable of recording in WAV format.

Are there flash WAV recording devices or MP3 recorders with options to record in WAV?

Also i want whatever i purchase i make to have a half decent recording time of somewhere around an hour.

Does mini disk still sound like the right option for my needs or does anyone else have any other suggestions?

Thanks for your rapid response as well mate!
 
miszt said:
minidisk would work, although probly cheaper to use a Flash MP3 recorder of some kind.

the black and red RCA's in scart are just standard line in/out, so the options are endless really

longer routes...I've never used a SkyHD box, but dont they have an Ethernet socket? perhaps theres sumway you can hack into it and extract the recordings off its HD drive? or you can get transmitter/reciever combos that plug into scart, to send the signal upto your studio for recording.
Click to expand...


haha minidisk what are you from 1996? get the zoom handheld recorder its kick ass. its got great directional mics but also line in and all, records straight to wav
 
most minidisc's record PCM WAV, I would imagine 16bit, cant b sure tho, some do compression aswell tho. allot of mp3 players record in WAV, or at least have that option. gotta check the specs tho! idealy I'd go for one with 24bit, and at least 48k, 96 if possible, having said that, 16bit is unlikley to give you many problems
 
miszt said:
idealy I'd go for one with 24bit, and at least 48k, 96 if possible, having said that, 16bit is unlikley to give you many problems
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To be honest, the final products more than likely going to end up on a CD at 16bit and 44.1k, so might not be worth the extra spending.
 
motion audio said:
To be honest, the final products more than likely going to end up on a CD at 16bit and 44.1k, so might not be worth the extra spending.
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true, althuogh the extra resolution from 24bit is worth it imo, i also write all my stuff for 'live' performance not for cd, 24bit all the way. i'm sure higher resolution would be better for vinyl too, in that case i'd probly even render everything at 32bit
 
I'm in the same position, looking for a replacement for the worse-than-f*&^ng useless Boss Micro BR I've been using, gonna flick it on TradeMe (New Zealand's version of ebay). Too damn fiddly to use, not intuitive and the display is way confusing. Have messed up recording for two live gigs (guitary stuff thru a PA) and last night I was mixing at home and it didn't work again, didn't realise until after I'd finished and went to playback

These are the ones I was looking at if that's any help. Prices in NZ dollars, but should be relative so will give you an idea of price:
- Zoom H2 $375
- Tascam DR-07 $495
- Olympus LS10 $710
- Alesis PalmTrack $299
- M-Audio Microtrak 2496 Mk1 $399

All would accept an RCA --> 3.5mm stereo input.

Get one that records WAV files (all of these I believe).

For minimal background noise you really are better going with a separate dynamic cardioid mic that will only pick up sound from the direction of the source (most of the above's inbuilt mics are omnidirectional). I say dynamic because I assume you will need something a bit tougher than a condenser for field recording (although there are some 'stage' condensers that are OK). I use an Audix OM3 for singing pretty much all the time now - only thing with this mic is you really need to get right up to it so not sure if your subject would appreciate having to chew on the mesh. Always SM58s or SM57s of course.

Originally posted here: http://ragga-jungle.com/topic/13860-portable-recording-devices/
 
miszt said:
most minidisc's record PCM WAV, I would imagine 16bit, cant b sure tho, some do compression aswell tho.
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If it recorded in WAV we'd all still be using them. I believe MD records using ATRAC which is effectively Sony's own encrypted version of MP3. They later went on to bring out different recording speeds to increase the recording time but the price of blank CD's wiped out the market. We still have a Sony MD player and a fuckt Denon DN-M2300r... the DJ'ing version, sat doing nothing. Personally I would use MD just because I already have one. The sound tends to be more bassy off MD but if I had the need I would definitely go for one of the M-Audio, Tascam or Zoom options mentioned by cbfb above... probably in that order too. Part of me though would say, why buy one of these expensive recorders when you could opt for putting the cash towards a laptop and soundcard combination? There is endless advantages over one of these devices... all depends on your budget too!

One thing to remember is the source audio quality; TV and radio stations compress their audio for streaming purposes so worrying about quality off these type of devices is a bit of an odd argument anyway. If its for recording live performances, then yeah, quality matters. Hope that helps?

Peace



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Lee Fury & JTB
http://soundcloud.com/biteandgouge

*IDEA*

Have you got/considered a VHS recorder if your source is TV? That could be a cheap, viable option if you got one of them knocking about???
 
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bite and gouge said:
If it recorded in WAV we'd all still be using them. I believe MD records using ATRAC which is effectively Sony's own encrypted version of MP3. They later went on to bring out different recording speeds to increase the recording time but the price of blank CD's wiped out the market. We still have a Sony MD player and a fuckt Denon DN-M2300r... the DJ'ing version, sat doing nothing. Personally I would use MD just because I already have one. The sound tends to be more bassy of MD but if I had the need I would definitely go for one of the M-Audio, Tascam or Zoom options mentioned by cbfb above... probably in that order too. Part of me though would say, why buy one of these expensive recorders when you could opt for putting the cash towards a laptop and soundcard combination? There is endless advantages over one of these devices... all depends on your budget too!

One thing to remember is the source audio quality; TV and radio stations compress their audio for streaming purposes so worrying about quality off these type of devices is a bit of an odd argument anyway. If its for recording live performances, then yeah, quality matters. Hope that helps?

Peace



BNGMovingLogo01.gif

Lee Fury & JTB
http://soundcloud.com/biteandgouge
Click to expand...

they started off with ATRAC only, then switched to uncompressed Linear PCM (essentially a WAV) with ATRAC as a recording option

good point RE compression on the TV signal, not a clue what that would be or how bad lol I dont watch much TV tbh, but VM cable doesnt seem to badly compressed when I've watched
 
miszt said:
they started off with ATRAC only, then switched to uncompressed Linear PCM (essentially a WAV) with ATRAC as a recording option

good point RE compression on the TV signal, not a clue what that would be or how bad lol I dont watch much TV tbh, but VM cable doesnt seem to badly compressed when I've watched
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Fairplay, I've never seen that but then I haven't looked into them for years. In MD's defense, it is a great way of just recording a nights work for play back the next day as it hasn't got the hassle of rendering and burning.

On TV compression, I believe I read somewhere that they use a type of MP2 compression (BADDDD memory though!). That may have changed now with HD but when you consider that Sky give away these boxes, they are not going to be putting high quality AD converters on the circuit board. I liked the TV sender idea, just the sort of thing I would come up with but upon reflection I would probably buy a new tape, dust off the VHS and carry it too the studio...



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Lee Fury & JTB
http://soundcloud.com/biteandgouge
 
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